Children and Families Act: SEND Provision’ Review

May 12, 2016

My colleague, Sharon Hodgson MP, Shadow Minister for Children and Families, has launched a review into the support available for children with SEND. This review comes after Sharon has held meetings with various charities, campaign groups and organisations from the SEND sector who have raised concerns with weaknesses and shortcomings in the implementation of the Children and Families Act.

This also comes following concerns raised regarding the Department for Education’s Schools White Paper and the Government’s aspiration of “all schools an academy” and the impact this will have on the education of children and young people with SEND as evidence shows that children and young people with SEND are falling through the net.

The review will be conducted by Sharon Hodgson MP, Shadow Minister for Children and Families, with the support of resident expert, Dr Amelia Roberts, Lecturer in Joint Professional Development at SENJIT, UCL Institute of Education.

Therefore, the review will be looking at seven areas as part of the review: the drafting of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs); the transition from a Statement of Special Educational Needs to EHCPs; the variability in the ‘Local Offer’; the SEN Code of Practice; provision of SEND in Initial Teacher Training (ITT); accessing specialist services within the school setting, and; the impact of “every school an academy”, which remains the Government’s ambition, on SEND admission and provision.

The review is keen to hear from as many people, including local organisations, charities and groups who have involvement in the local provision of SEND services and I hope that constituents will consider submitting written evidence to the review.

The call for written evidence runs until Friday 29th July 2016, and should be no more than 5 sides of A4, type 12, Ariel and should be sent to tyed@parliament.uk titled ‘SEND Review’. Written evidence can include thoughts, stories, evidence of best practice, research or recommendations but are not exclusive to this list.

Please do consider submitting evidence to this review which will feed into the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum – a key component of policy development towards the Party’s manifesto for 2020 – and our offer to families of children and young people with SEND.

Meet Debbie

Debbie Abrahams is the Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth and the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (suspended). She has been the Member … Read more